The first national ancient Buddhist texts restoration techniques training course was held at Wenshu Monastery in Chengdu, capital city of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, on August 29, with over 33 students from the country’s three major language families of Buddhism participated.

Liu Wei, Secretary-General of the Buddhist Association of China, said in a speech that preservation and restoration work on a large number of ancient Buddhist texts is extremely urgent, however the work is highly specialized and requires knowledge of the ancient texts, an understanding of thetechniques involved in preservation and restoration of ancient texts, as well as competency in Buddhist history and culture. Because of this, it is a must to have a steady and expert Buddhist team of preservation workers.

The training course was organized by the National Ancient Books Preservation Center of China and the Buddhist Association of China, and will last for 33 days. It aims to cultivate a group of experts who can master techniques for restoring ancient texts to lay a solid foundation for the restoration and preservation of Buddhist cultural heritage.